The invention relates to electronic control of internal combustion engines.
Although present-day mass-produced Diesel engines have regulators which are virtually exclusively mechanical, the technical literature increasingly describes regulators which are electronically controlled, in which the individual operating characteristics of the engine are input signals of a signal processing unit, and the output variable thereof determines the position of the regulator rod of the injection pump. Increasingly, a computer is called upon as the signal processing unit, because it offers the possibility of manifold variations and applications. Furthermore, purely mechanical valves are used in present-day fuel injection systems, and the quantity of fuel injected depends finally upon the pressure of the fuel which is being made available for injection. Nevertheless, the use of magnetic valves is recommended, especially in Diesel engines which operate relatively slowly, because such valves permit more precise fuel metering. In so doing, injection times are then formed in the signal processing units, and the various injection valves are triggered in accordance with the values ascertained and in synchronism with crankshaft angles. It has been found, however, that the known "global" means of ascertaining trigger signals for the individual electromagnetic injection valves is not sufficient for obtaining a supply of fuel to all the cylinders which is optimal in terms of quantity, and which would thus optimize the engine as a whole.